Effective January 1, 2018, revenue for all companies following IFRSs and US GAAP will be recognized under a new accounting standard – IFRS 15, Revenue from Contracts with Customers or the FASB's equivalent revenue standard, ASU 2014-09 Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606).

Much of the discussion so far has centered around it should be applied by preparers, not on how it should be analysed by analysts and investors. The paper now published by the CFA Institute examines the top 10 questions investors should consider as they review year-end 2017 results and consider first quarter 2018 reporting as it relates to the adoption of the new standard.

Review the full paper on the CFA Institute's website.

Compared to the development of financial reporting, the evolution of non-financial reporting has been rapid and fragmented. There are many regulations, reporting frameworks, guidance and tools which influence the corporate reporting process on environmental, social and governance issues (ESG). The resulting reporting landscape has been described in recent reports by the Business and Sustainable Development Commission1 and ACCA2, as complex, overwhelming and there have been calls for more harmonization and alignment.

The report is intended to help business navigate global sustainability reporting trends.

Review the report on the CDSB's website.

Some of the key features of the budget plan were:

• Following the proposals announced last year, the budget has introduced legislation to address the earning of passive income inside a private corporation.
• From a gender equality perspective, the budget announces the introduction of a new “use it or lose it” Employment Insurance parental sharing benefit which will enable two-parent families that share parental leave to receive an additional five weeks of leave.
• The government is introducing significant new investments to better support Canadian innovators.
• The government continues to introduce measures to close loopholes that result in unfair tax advantages for some at the expense of others.
• Of note, the budget does not include further measures to address recommendations from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s base erosion and profit shifting project, particularly with respect to interest deductibility and anti-hybrid measures.

A summary of the economic and tax highlights contained in the budget is outlined in our Canadian tax alert.

Par­tic­i­pants at the meeting, which was chaired by IASB® member Amaro Gomes, discussed business combinations under common control, accounting for micro entities, IAS 12, Income Taxes, initial measurement of payables when payment is deferred, IASB update, and an introduction to IFRS 17, Insurance Contracts.

Review the full report (five pages) on the the Board's website.

Cybersecurity is much more than securing access to applications and data, and proactively adapting to the ever-changing threat landscape. It’s also about enforcing strong controls for data integrity, protecting data from loss, and ensuring availability when the business needs it.

Finance leaders in the enterprise need to ask these questions not only about the applications they run internally, but also of their current and prospective cloud providers:

1. What is our organization’s current exposure to cyber threats?
2. How well are we prepared, and how well are our cloud providers prepared?
3. What is our overall risk tolerance, and are our cloud providers aligned with this?
4. Do we and our providers have processes in place to prevent, detect, contain, and respond?
5. Are our providers investing to reduce risk of data loss or downtime?
6. Do we and our providers have a thoroughly tested plan, so there is no delay in the event of an attack?

Review the full article on FEI Daily's website.

NI 58-101 requires non-venture issuers to provide annual disclosure regarding certain gender diversity related matters, including policies regarding the representation and number of women on the board and in executive officer positions. Comments are requested by April 10, 2018.

Review the press release and the Notice on the BCSC's website.

Below is an analysis of all changes made to the work plan since our last analysis on January 27, 2018.

Maintenance projects

• Plan amendment, curtailment or settlement (amendment to IAS 19) — This has been removed from the work plan, as an IFRS Amendment was issued on February 7, 2018.

Research projects

• Principles of disclosure — Discussions on feedback of the discussion paper occurred at the IASB’s February 2018 meeting; the next milestone is now “decide project direction” in March 2018.

Other projects

• IFRS Taxonomy Update—2017 Annual Improvements — The next milestone has changed from a Feedback Discussion in February 2018 to a Final Update in March 2018.

The revised IASB work plan is available on the Board's website.

Over the last several months, the SEC has intensified its threats to so-called “gatekeepers,” especially in the area of initial coin offerings (“ICOs”) and cryptocurrencies.

Clayton’s testimony was his latest in a series of warnings to lawyers involved in structuring ICOs that the SEC is on “high alert” and may charge them with securities law violations if they do not “do better” in performing their job as gatekeepers for the securities industry. While the SEC has long sought to hold accountable lawyers whom it believes have fallen short of their professional obligations, Clayton’s recent warnings go far beyond those of his predecessors.

While many entrepreneurs—and their lawyers—may view ICOs as a decentralized and largely unregulated means of raising capital, the SEC has essentially adopted a rebuttable presumption that ICO tokens are securities that must comply with the registration requirements of the securities laws.

Review the full article on Bloomberg Law's website.

According to the article, there are three key steps to ensuring your organization is privacy compliant:

1. Appoint a designated privacy officer
2. Develop and/or update your privacy policy to ensure compliance with your organizations privacy practices and the current privacy jurisprudence
3. Ensure that the necessary safeguards are in place to protect your organization from privacy breaches and policies in place to quickly respond in the unfortunate event of a privacy breach.

Review the full article on Lawson Lundell LLP's website.

Previous guidance in this area stated that companies may be obligated to disclose cybersecurity risks and incidents, but it did not provide specific disclosure requirements. The new guidance clarifies that the SEC expects companies to disclose cybersecurity risks and incidents that are material to investors, including financial, legal, or reputational consequences.

Review the press release and interpretation on the SEC’s website.